Top 10: Crazy Chinese Cities

Number 3

Guangzhou

Population: 14.7 million

Not far from Hong Kong, and also lying on the banks of the Pearl River Delta, Guangzhou is a leading commercial and manufacturing city that is growing at a monstrous pace. But back in the 19th century, Canton (now Guangzhou) was China’s major trading port with Western Europe. A beautiful and ancient Chinese city, Silk Road was a hub of haggling and bartering, a globally attended merchant trading center. Of course, Guangzhou’s port remains a crucial access point for international trade, but just over 100 years ago, it was all spices and luxury items.

Silk, tea, porcelain, lacquer screens, lace shawls, ivory fans. Imagine the scene: Busy merchants pushing and shoving, peddling their goods along Silk Road, while the more pioneering merchants would make the trek down to the port in caravans and rickshaws, eager to catch foreigners fresh off the boat.

Today, Silk Road remains a bustling village of streetscapes, but they seem catatonic compared to the hustling suits who occupy skyscrapers in the Tianhe and Shamian districts. With suburban sprawl taking over, farmers around Guangzhou have mostly sold their plots, and suburbia stretches like a rubber band.

Number 2

Dongtan

Population: 20,000

China has an innovative pedigree. From 600 to 1500, it was the world’s most scientifically advanced society, inventing gun powder, cast iron, the magnetic compass, papermaking, and printing. But it’s never imagined anything like this.

While much of China has clogged its cities with smog and poisoned its rivers with chemicals, The Dongtan Project, the world’s first eco-city, "is leading the way in urban sustainability.” It is also the world’s most intentional city — but what a dreamscape.

President Hu Jintao is emphasizing “harmony between humanity and nature.” Innovation in resource efficiency is driving The Dongtan Project. Arup, a London-based global engineereing and design consultancy, is building an eco-city out of nothing. It is the Chinese Ground Zero: Chongming Island, a plot the size of Manhattan, off the coast of Shanghai.

Number 1

Wuhan

Population: 9.7 million

Located in central China at the confluence of the Han and Yangtze Rivers, Wuhan is an enormous city divided into three towns: Hankou, Hanyang and Wuchang. A communications mecca, Wuhan has 189 lakes which account for 25% of the mega-city’s area — a phenomenal urban ratio. Wuhan boasts the broadest investment environment in the nation with 40 countries and 40 of the 500 largest multinationals investing in China.

But it is the combination of open markets, diverse geography, and ancient history that makes Wuhan a vigorous city. In particular, the Yellow Crane Tower or the Guiyan Buddhist Temple are beautiful samples of an old, stylish China. And Jianghin Road by night is a bustling maze of food and performers, reminiscent of Barcelona’s Las Ramblas.

chillin' in china

With the 2008 Beijing Olympics on the horizon and tourists flocking to China, many cities have begun translating urban messages into English. The messages, however, are often blurry. In a Shanghai subway, for example, one sign reads: "If you are stolen, call the police at once;" another indicates that "If you take the phone on your waistband, as if to send money to the thief." Such messages are like reading Chinese, which is why Chinglish is a long way away from bridging the language gap most Western tourists feel throughout this burgeoning superpower.